"OVERCOMING THE LIMITATIONS OF
CONVENTIONAL HEMODYNAMIIC MONITORING"
Pulse Flow Validation in a Captive Vascular Bed
To determine if this measurement
technique accurately measures Peripheral Pulse Volume (PPV) and Mean Nutrient Flow (perfusion),
simultaneous measurements were made with the impedance based Pulse Flowmeter and with
“gold standard” electromagnetic flowmeters. We elected to make such
comparisons in an isolated perfused kidney preparation, as the kidney is
an organ with well-defined and accessible arterial and venous supplies.
Selectively averaged PPV correlated well with PPV as determined by flow
probe measurements. Pulse Flow (HR x PPV) correlated very well with
mean flow (at physiologic flow levels), supporting the use of changes in PPV to predict changes in
perfusion. Thus, in the isolated vascular bed of the kidney, this
technique appears to satisfactorily measure PPV as well as to predict
changes in mean flow over a wide range of flow values.